Low prevalence of microplastic contamination in planktivorous fish species from the southeast Pacific Ocean
Nicolas Christian Orya b, Catherine Chagnona c, Fernando Félixd, César Fernándeze, Joana Lia Ferreiraf, Camila Gallardoa, Ostin Garcés-Ordóñezg, Aida Henostrozah, Enrique Laazi, Ricardo Mizrajij, Hermes Mojicak, V. Murillo Harol, Luis Ossa Medinam, Mercy Preciadoi, Paula Sobraln o, Mauricio A. Urbinap, Martín Thiela b q r✉
- aFacultad Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Católica del Norte, Larrondo 1281, Coquimbo, Chile
- bMillennium Nucleus Ecology and Sustainable Management of Oceanic Island (ESMOI), Coquimbo, Chile
- cDépartement de Biologie, Université Laval, 1045 Avenue de la Médecine, Québec, Québec G1V 0A6, Canada
- dComisión Permanente del Pacífico Sur (CPPS), Av. Carlos J. Arosemena km 3, Guayaquil, Ecuador
- eLaboratorio de Ecología Trófica (IMARPE), Lima, Peru
- fLAQV-REQUIMTE, Departamento de Conservação e Restauro, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
- gPrograma Calidad Ambiental Marina, Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (INVEMAR), calle 25 No 2-55 playa Salguero, Santa Marta, Colombia
- hLaboratorio de Ecotoxicología Acuática (IMARPE), Lima, Peru
- iInstituto Nacional de Pesca (INP), Guayaquil, Ecuador
- jDepartamento de Ecología & Biodiversidad, Facultad de Ecología & Recursos Naturales, Universidad Andrés Bello, Santiago, Chile
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Abstract
The gut contents of 292 planktivorous fish, from four families (Atherinopsidae, Clupeidae, Engraulidae and Scombridae) and seven species, captured along the coast of the southeast Pacific, were examined for microplastic contamination. Only a small fraction of all studied fish (2.1%; 6 individuals) contained microplastic particles in their digestive tract. Microplastics found were degraded hard fragments and threads, ranging from 1.1 to 4.9 (3.8±SD 2.4) mm in length, and of various colours, which suggests that the planktivorous fish species examined herein did not capture microplastics on the basis of their colour. The low prevalence of microplastic contamination in planktivorous fishes found in this study suggests that the risk of accidental ingestion by these species might be limited in the coastal upwelled waters of the southeast Pacific, perhaps due to small human population and highly dynamic oceanographic processes.
TL;DRThe low prevalence of microplastic contamination in planktivorous fishes found in this study suggests that the risk of accidental ingestion by these species might be limited in the coastal upwelled waters of the southeast Pacific, perhaps due to small human population and highly dynamic oceanographic processes. (Semantic Scholar)